1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to packagings for active substance-containing films, in particular for films having pharmaceutical active substances. It relates, furthermore, to the use of these packagings for the packaging of active substance-containing films, and to production methods, by means of which the packagings according to the invention can be obtained. The packagings according to the invention are suitable particularly for the child-proof packaging of active substance-containing films.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In drug therapy, in addition to the known forms of administration, such as tablets, capsules, etc., active substance-containing films, what are known as “wafers”, are used for administering drugs, above all for oral administration. These are thin wafers or strips consisting of an active substance-containing film, these wafers or strips being co-ordinated in their thickness and dimensions with the active substance quantity to be dispensed. A wafer is generally flexible, soft, of low weight and tearable. The overall thickness of a film-like drug of this type may be 5 μm to 5 mm, usually 50 μm to 1 mm. The surface shape may be of round, oval, triangular or quadrangular or even polygonal configuration or have a shape rounded in any desired way. Drugs of all classes may be considered as active substances, for example analgesics or psychopharmaceuticals or else nicotine for curing the smoking habit. The active substance contained in the active substance-containing film, after being administered to a patient, is released from the film and can thereafter be resorbed.
On account of the active substance content of the active substance-containing films, it is desirable or even absolutely necessary to package these in such a way that they cannot be extracted and taken or swallowed by unauthorized persons, in particular by children. The opening operation should at least be impeded or delayed. On the other hand, such a child-proof packaging should nevertheless be capable of being opened by adults without much effort and without the aid of implements.
In an already known product (THERAFLU®, Novartis AG), an active substance-containing film strip is enclosed between a carrier layer and a covering layer which are connected to one another by means of sealing seams. Such a packaging (90) is illustrated diagrammatically in a top view in FIG. 1. The two packaging material sheets (carrier layer and covering layer) are sealed to one another in the region of the hatched areas. The packaging has an outer sealing margin (92) and also a web (95) which subdivides the inner space of the bag thus formed into two compartments (93, 94). The first space (93) contains the packaged active substance-containing film strip (91), and the second space (94) is empty and serves for forming a child-proof tear-open aid. For this purpose, the packaging is provided, in a region of the sealed outer margin, with a perforation or punching (96) which is spaced apart from the outer margin. To open the packaging, the latter has to be bent along the line (y), with the result that it becomes possible to tear into the packaging along the line (x) which runs through the surface region of the second space (94). By the tearing in or tearing off, freely accessible edges of the carrier layer and covering layer are formed, which serve as a grasping aid and which make it possible to pull off the covering layer from the carrier layer, with the result that the packaging contents (91) become accessible. Impeding the opening operation as a consequence of the construction substantially contributes to making the packaging child-proof.
However, the known packaging described above also has considerable disadvantages. Since the area required for forming the tear-open aid (94) is relatively large and amounts to approximately 30% of the area of the compartment (93) intended for receiving the film strip, the outlay in terms of material is too high in relation to the size of the film strip to be packaged and increases the production costs. The useful area (93) for enclosing the packaged contents is too low in relation to the overall area of the packaging and is approximately 40%. This means not only an increased consumption of material in production, but also an increased space requirement for storage.
In addition, in the packaging described above, the sealing seams, by means of which the carrier layer and covering layer are connected releasably to one another, occupy a considerable fraction of the overall area of the packaging, to be precise approximately 30%. The production speed consequently has to be reduced correspondingly, thus resulting, in turn, in an increase in the production costs.